So... Neo-Paladin has three games ongoing in his Merge setting, and I was on the verge of creating my own Agenta of SHIELD level game... But then Neo-Paladin beat me to it. To the point that the first story I had in mind involved Melange/ Spice! So I shelved that idea, and thought about it... and the overall campaign I had in mind still works. I just need to tweak my opening issue...

So far, everything has been about adjusting. About coping. It's become apparent that whatever caused the Merge isn't going away and isn't going to be reversed... this is our new home and it's time to get used to it.

That's where agencies like the DXDO came in. Cataloguing Extra Dimensional (XD) beings, Natives who have suddenly developed powers... Trying to balance establish a new status quo. But the DXDO aren't the only ones, or at least they have more than one base and more than one person of leadership quality... And out there, there are more than beings of extra-ordinary and physics defying ability. There are items and locations of power.

The plan here is that you will be tasked with finding information on these items of power, of determining what has become a mystical or technological power or artefact. It will be at your discretion, once located, to neutralize or recover them. This task is monumental. There are known multiple versions of the same hero and the same villain... what happens when there are three versions of the Ark of the Covenant out there? When the Cueva de los Cristales are discovered to actually contain Kyber Crystals? Who has the Darkholme? Ancient Technology? Does the Island of Bardos actually exist? What about the rumours of a complex beneath the Sphinx? And although the presence of the Stargate version of Atlantis is generally a well kept secret, the larger secret is the great mecha cat that materialized inside its hangar...

What else is out there?

That's where the series will go, but the first issue spectacular is going to start differently...

Character Creation PL would be 7, with 105 pp. You can trade up and down 1 PL for 15 pp. PL 8 would be at 90 pp, PL 6 at 120 pp. You can have powers but that is definitely not a requirement. Each rank of Presence nets you a social advantage. (Contacts and Connected are available, as bonus advantages or purchased, but these will be largely useless in the first issue.) Skill Points are 1 pp/3 ranks.New Benefit: ATA Gene (Ranked) Each rank gives you +5 (modified by Presence) to be used as a skill to control Ancient Technology. Ancient Technology is not restricted to Stargate Ancients, and in fact encompasses a broad type of technology.

Character Type Wishlist
I am looking for 4 - 6 players. And although you are free to create what you will, I have a preference for legacies, homages, secondary characters or simply empowered Merge Earth Natives. Also, I am looking for certain specific niches. You do not have to fall into multiple (or even any) but I would like some of these to be addressed in one way or another. With examples, but not necessarily restricted to those examples:

a "Tomb Raider". You don't have to be Lara Croft, Rick O'Connell or Indianna Jones. But all are great inspiration. A Felinoid. Na'Vi (although Avatars do not work), Caitian, Thunderan/ Thundercat, a Werecat of some kind... (I am saying no to Kzinti). A normally villainous character, but truly one of the good guys. Along the lines of Teal'c. Jaffa, Wraith, Go'auld/Tok'ra, Jem Hadar, a Star Wars Imperial or First Order Trooper... A Swordsman of some kind. Immortal (Highlander Franchise), Video Game Characters (Soul Caliber...), but not Puss'n'Boots... A Tech Specialist of some kind. Think Chewbacca or Starfleet Engineer more than Iron Man...

Again, these don't all have to be filled and they can even overlap in the same character, but these types of characters will have moments to shine and better chances at Hero Points...

This will begin late 2016, and although ultimately you will be "hired" by the DXDO, I don't plan to have Cecil Stedman, Amanda Waller or Phil Coulson show up... (They're busy enough as it is...)

I will state that in the opening scene, the characters have not met and have not been contacted by the DXDO (unless you specifically put that in your background).

Any takers?

PP allotments 27/07/2017: Everyone gets one Power Point for the first arc, another for your patience and finally a third for the roleplaying. (Total of 3)21/01/2018: Everyone gets five Power Points

Last edited by Bladewind on Tue Jan 23, 2018 6:21 pm, edited 4 times in total.

Enigmatic One wrote:Note to self, get Bruce and his Bat-force to take this one.

Notes on the build
'Dex holders seem to be a cut above normal trainers, even when they're starting out. Given that they will be traveling through some rough country and possibly encountering some equally rough characters, it stands to reason that they will have some extra training that your generic pokemon trainer wouldn't have. As far as being a pokemon trainer and dex holder, it seems to be the equivalent of being a marshal with the old 'a-kicking equals authority' thing going on.

Pokeballs aren't exactly common yet at least not over in the states, so most trainers tend to keep a small team of critters, instead of boxes and boxes of them. In fact, most trainers (in the 'states at least) don't even bother with pokeballs, instead preferring to befriend their critters, rather than catching them.

There are places that are starting up Gyms, especially out in the more remote or sparsely populated regions/areas, mainly for survival purposes against the really bad things that are now out there. Places like Alaska would definitely count as 'remote' and sparsely populated.

The pokemon fighting thing has come up now and again (with organizations like PETA decrying it), but the pokemon themselves have made it quite plain they like it (as it makes them stronger) and it's really ludicrous to think that humans could really make them do anything they didn't want to do. For them, it is a symbiotic partnership built on mutual respect. They'd let their human partner know if they were unhappy with things. So any attempts at stopping it hasn't had much traction or success, though regulating it and putting rules in place (to keep the mayhem to a minimum) have naturally happened. For example to actually become a trainer, you have to take classes and graduate from said classes before you can have a pokemon.

Also, most Pokémon seem to be just as intelligent as humans and some far exceed the intelligence of most humans (Alakazam for example). For these 'starter' Pokémon, I've kept them at average human intelligence.

Amaryllis (Amy) Cináed Michaels - Pokemon Trainer PL 6/120PP
BACKGROUND
It's a big dangerous world out there for everyone really. When the merge happened, untold numbers of creatures, both dangerous and benign descended on the earth and made it their home, putting everyone at risk, either by design or by accident. In some places, the only way to survive was to ally with powerful creatures called...
Pokémon.

Amaryllis was an ordinary young girl living up in the wild's of Alaska before the merge. Though due to that, she learned a lot on how to survive in the wilds from her family. After the merge, though, monsters began haunting the land and she managed to befriend one. A Pikachu she named Peekaboo. Around the same time, she discovered her own latent psychic abilities awakening and went to seek training for them. When she did, Homeland security approached her.

COMPLICATIONS
KID: Amaryllis is a fourteen year old kid, though a frighteningly competent one with all of the usual complications that go in with that.
WANTED: Not in that way, but pokemon are incredibly powerful creatures and there are any number of bad guys who would like to use her and them for not so good purposes.
RESPONSIBILITY: She knows she has an awful lot of power and Peekaboo is quite powerful as well. With all of that power, she knows she has to be careful not to misuse it or have it misused by others.

Hmm, if I tweaked the PL6 version of Lt. Cmdr. Shannon Bradley to have a background in evaluating hardware rather than investigation, a Manticoran with a treecat sidekick would qualify as both a techie and a felinoid...

drothgery wrote:Hmm, if I tweaked the PL6 version of Lt. Cmdr. Shannon Bradley to have a background in evaluating hardware rather than investigation, a Manticoran with a treecat sidekick would qualify as both a techie and a felinoid...

I can see that working.

kirinke... did you seriously just propose a Pokémon trainer ?!? So those minions are... minions. They can get taken out pretty easily. Where do they go when not in action? How do you foresee that working? I should have seen this one coming... You did tell me about this build (and I think it's even linked in the "merge inspired characters" section...)... It might be a little too out of scope for what I have in mind though... I haven't vetoed it yet though.

Last edited by Bladewind on Tue Jan 17, 2017 3:53 am, edited 1 time in total.

Enigmatic One wrote:Note to self, get Bruce and his Bat-force to take this one.

drothgery wrote:Hmm, if I tweaked the PL6 version of Lt. Cmdr. Shannon Bradley to have a background in evaluating hardware rather than investigation, a Manticoran with a treecat sidekick would qualify as both a techie and a felinoid...

I can see that working.

kirinke... did you seriously just propose a Pokémon trainer ?!? So those minions are... minions. They can get taken out pretty easily. Where do they go when not in action? How do you foresee that working? I should have seen this one coming... You did tell me about this build (and I think it's even linked in the "merge inspired characters" section...)... It might be a little too out of scope for what I have in mind though... I haven't vetoed it yet though.

I fiddled with things to make her more of a psychic warrior with a couple of 'minion pets'. Though with a bit of tweaking I can make them into sidekicks instead. As far as where do they go, they stay by her side. I put some additional stuff in the build notes.

COMPLICATIONS:Reputation: Drow are known to be evil creatures and are generally untrusted by other races.Secret: Kal'annar carefully guards his House name.Vulnerable: While Kal'annar can generally function in normal lighting, bright lighting impairs his eyesight and he is vulnerable to light based visual effects.

Background: Kal'annar e-merged in this dimension during a Shadowjump that should have taken him into the sleeping chambers of his enemy/brother. Instead he found himself (waiting to see how Bladewind starts the campaign)

Build Comments: This was a fun exercise. I actually started looking for a cool picture (that I still can't find) of a dual sword wielding tiger. (and what is wrong with Kzinti?). I thought it was one of Thor's fantasy builds ... when I ran across the picture above ... it just clicked ... and fits some of the niches BW was talking about. Also, it's not Drizzit so that's a plus. Not that he isn't a cool character I guess but he was sooooo over exposed and fanboyed during my ancient D&D days I couldn't get into him. I lost my initial love for Wolverine and Batman for the same reason.

Any way, Kal' is a dual/multi-class, whatever system you want to use fighter/magic-user. Teenage Starguard played a very similar character, an albino High Elf, before Drow were playable race. Kal's dark magic has powerful potential but his control is not quite there all the time. The one thing he does do well is Shadowjump but even that's limited to darkness, so he's just never going to be up to Doctor (insert name) standards. Which makes him just right for Omega Company (I hope)

Last edited by StarGuard on Wed Aug 02, 2017 11:45 pm, edited 15 times in total.